Obama Pitches Financial Reform to Wall Street Execs

Posted on Apr 22, 2010

President Obama spoke before a group of fat cats—or rather, “titans of industry,” as he called them—from Wall Street on Thursday at Cooper Union in New York City, the same site where he’d delivered his pre-bailout, pre-presidential speech on the economy two years ago, in an attempt to recruit them to support his cause of reforming the financial industry. Good luck with that one, Mr. President. —KA

“I’m sure that some of these lobbyists work for you and they’re doing what they are being paid to do,” Obama told invited guests—“titans of industry,” he called them—during a speech at Cooper Union in New York City.

Even so, Obama argued that new regulations on the financial industry would help businesses, customers, and the U.S. economy as a whole. “We need to enact a set of updated, common-sense rules to ensure accountability on Wall Street and to protect consumers in our financial system,” he said.